My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea

It's true that not everyone will like the animation of this film, but I thought it was perfect for the story it was telling. The animation also lends itself to a lot of creative quirks that can be displayed visually, which also lends itself well to the creative and quirky story it's telling. The biggest strength of this is that it's entirely unpredictable and there's a clever, fresh charm it has that many other animated films do not. If anything, I think this is vastly underrated and deserves way more attention than it got.

I wasn't familiar with Dash Shaw's work before I saw this movie, he was a comic book artist or graphic novelist, I'm not quite sure. His unique visual style propelled the story and characters to new heights, complementing each together very well to provide a wholly different kind of viewing experience.

The basic story has our main character Dash (Jason Schwartzman) try and save is school from sinking into the sea after he found out that it wasn't up to code. An oversight by the principal causes the school to fall apart and becomes a fight for survival full of quips and a sincere look at the lives of teenagers in general.

A great voice lead by Jason Schwartzman, Lena Dunham, Reggie Watts, Maya Rudolph, and a hilarious Susan Sarandon as Lunch Lady Lorraine.

My only issue was sometimes the animation got out of control; what I mean is that it became hard to follow and sort of jarring to watch towards the end.

The combination of great voice acting, a well written script, and a unique animation style make this a must see!

My suggestion: Check it out, watch it for the visuals and for a movie that will make you laugh throughout it's entirety.

Seen at TIFF 2016.

This animation is about a high school that falls into the sea after an earthquake. Students and staff inside the school try their best to survive.

Sweet Jesus, the animation is horrible. The colors are unrealistic, to the point that the grey people and the red people give me a headache. The colour palette is extremely varied, the brushes are broad and things are outlined. Even children's comics have better artisitic presentation of characters and backgrounds. I have no interest in the story or any of the characters, even after finishing the whole film. I suspect that you have to be very high to enjoy it.

Social hierarchy defines the high school experience for most teenagers. On the verge of adulthood, these kids love to follow their peers on MTV and wherever their inspiration comes from to emulate them. Though rather then adapting it to their home life, they would rather take that life. For most kids, they simply cannot become a Karadashian nor an best selling novelist on the spot, so they try to duplicate the mannerisms of their idols to try to prove people that they are just as good as them. This is what makes the high school social life full, but also hollow and pointless.

The queen bee may be the most popular girl on campus, but will come face to face with wannabes in college. The Dungeons and Dragons geek may hate their lives in physical education, will come to find a friendlier crowd in the real world. I've come to find the high school social scene a lot like a filming of an MTV reality show; full of people that think they know the world despite being in it less then eighteen years. The multitude of that experience and it's deeper levels are explored in the oddly titled, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea.

Young sophomore Dash (played by Jason Schwartzman) is contently convincing himself that his school newspaper is popular and that he's one of the best writers in school. The truth is that he would rather focus on publishing gossip to get people to read. His best friend Assaf (played by Reggie Watts) and fellow student Verti (played by Verti) are annoyed by his ego and ask Dash to leave. Dash fumes that the rest of the world does not understand him and cannot wait to leave to try and write a book. What he doesn't know is that he's about to live through a great story.

The day was already stormy, but rotting roots finally pushed the school into the Pacific Ocean. Now sinking, the students and faculty are scrambling to call for help and making it out as the building is drifting further out to sea. Dash teams up with popular girl Mary (played by Lena Dunham) to get to the top floor where the seniors are. The find Assaf and Verti along with lunch lady Lorraine (played by Susan Sarandon) fight through the water and dead students to make it out alive, along with seeing the problems of school cliché groups and administrative bureaucracy.

Kind of like Your Name, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea is another surprise animated movie that I liked. It's story of getting out of a sinking high school is both a parody of disaster movies, and a deeper story about the hollowness of the life inside of it. Some might question the short seventy-five minute running time, but the pacing makes it feel like a well balanced story and enough for it's animation style.

Not only do we hand some hand-drawn animation, but the film also slips into paintings, sketches, and even abstract art that combines several elements. I can see this as an acquired taste, but animation fans should be welcoming of something this risky in an age of computer animation.

The voice acting is great for the cast that it got. My favorites were Lena Dunham, who captures the insecurities of a queen bee, and Susan Sarandon, whose character is so interesting, that I wouldn't mind seeing a spin-off story about lunch lady Lorraine. If I had any problem, that would be the main character who can be a tad selfish. I know a lot of kids are like this, but I think that Dash could have been written a tad more relatable (like dwelling more into his obsession with wanting to be popular). Otherwise, I have to commend this movie for entertaining me with such a bizarre premise.

I'll give this eight high school papers out of ten. This movie is oddly animated in a crude manner, but it's final result is deep. Even if animation is not your forte, I'd try to give this a chance and see how it can fill a hollowness with plenty of substance.

'MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An animated teen comedy about a group of high school kids trying to survive a disaster in which their entire high school sinks into the sea. The film stars the voice talents of Jason Schwartzman, Reggie Watts, Maya Rudolph, Lena Dunham and Susan Sarandon. It was written, co-produced and directed by Dash Shaw. The movie runs just 75 minutes long, and it was released in indie theaters by GKIDS. It's somewhat creative, and funny, but it's also mostly a mess.

Dash (Schwartzman, who's character is obviously named after the director) and Assaf (Watts) are two sophomore outcasts at Tides High School. They're also a writing team for the school paper. When their friend Verti (Rudolph), who's also their editor, assigns Assaf a solo writing assignment, Dash becomes extremely jealous and mad. Dash then gets into trouble, for writing a smear article about Assaf, and while he's trying to steal a negative record on himself, he learns that the school might sink into the sea if an earthquake were to happen. The other students don't believe him though, due to the fact that he's so unpopular, but when an earthquake does strike, Dash finally has the chance to prove himself.

The movie is bizarrely creative and quirky. It also has some pretty decent social commentary on high school life, and it's funny at times. The animation definitely leaves something to be desired though (even though it's somewhat creative and strange); and even at just a 75 minute running length, the movie feels way too long. Not only is the film mostly not funny, but it's also boring a lot of the time. It kind of feels like a much darker, twisted and more violent Charlie Brown episode (stretched into an entire movie), but that's giving it way too much credit. It's too much of a mess to praise it for any of it's qualities actually.

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